Hollow Flow

Alex's best friend Solaeo vanishes without a trace. Three weeks of search parties and flyers later, Alex finds him in a cave near his father's property — frail, silent, and surrounded by seven dead goats that won't stop staring. It's the last normal day of his life. Beneath the modern world lies a hidden order built on the Procedure: a forbidden ritual that grants superhuman "Crest" abilities bound by brutal, permanent Restrictions — power that always costs something you can never get back. Three factions hold an uneasy balance over it all: a floating Empire built on the backs of the enslaved, an island Coalition ruled by a lightning-wielding Queen, and an Academy so prestigious and neutral that even rival nations send their children to its halls. As Alex is pulled deeper into this world, he discovers his own emerging power isn't quite what it seems — and that the people around him, including his own family, may know more about what he really is than he does. Ancient, near-immortal figures who've watched empires rise and fall for centuries are searching for reasons to stay human. Something enormous is converging on Alex, and he's the only one who doesn't yet understand why.